Solar farm between Long Whatton and Hathern approved

The site is split across two parcels of land either side of Oakley Wood

Part of a large solar farm split between two Leicestershire villages has been given the green light.

Charnwood Borough Council's planning committee voted to approve the scheme, which sits between Hathern and Long Whatton, on Thursday.

The 245-acre farm could power more than 15,000 homes, the developer said.

Part of the site is under North West Leicestershire District Council's remit, with no decision yet on this part of the plans.

'Exploit warehouse roofs'

Nick Barber, who spoke on behalf of developer Endurance Energy, said the farm would reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking approximately 7,000 petrol cars off the road for 40 years.

He also said the scheme, which sits either side of Oakley Wood, would boost biodiversity on the site by 62%, with 166 acres of pasture, 61 acres of wildflower meadow, three acres of new woodland, more than 600m of new hedgerows and four new wildlife ponds.

All councillors voted to approve the scheme, but councillor David Infield said that, while he thought it was "a very strong proposal", it was using up 27.8 hectares (about 69 acres) of the best agricultural land.

He added: "I hope that in the future we'll see proposals coming forward from developers like this that would also seek to exploit warehouse roofs and other sites that don't take away valuable agricultural land."

Committee chair, councillor Sandie Forrest, said she shared these concerns, but added she had enquired about the quality of the land earlier that day and understood it was not in the highest category.

Jim Worley, from the council's planning office, said the land was not graded at the top level of agricultural quality, but two levels below that.

Two objections to the plans had been made by members of the public, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.